Huntsville gazette., 1887-09-17
WILD MEN OF BOMBAY.
Hindoo Tribes Which Are i'm Strangely
Degraded Condition.


Degraded Condition.
The report of the Bombay forest
commission contains some interesting
information about the wild tribes OF
the Katkan, the strip of land in Bonn
bay that lies between the western
Ghatz and the Arabian sea. The wild
tribes are great number Of persons
of different aboriginal races, who lead
an unsettled life and who subsist for
| the greatest part of the year on the
wages they earn as carriers and dis"
tributors of forest produce among the
| local residents. There are three dis
| tinct wild tribes left-the katkaris,
80. 900 strong; the Thakuras. $4,000,
and the Varlis. 10000 in strength-in-
| dividuals who lead savage life alto
gether, and exc out a precariOus living
| by sporadic hill cultivation. by coli
Letting forest pNducc for barter or
sale at the nearest markets, and also
to a certain extent. BY killing and eat
| ing various sorts of wild animals
| They live in miserable novels in or
near the forests.
The Thakuras are an unsettled tribe,
ready to change their hamlet if a child
sickens or COW dies. They wear
scarcely any clothes, eat the coarsest
| food, love Incidence and dissipation,
have no thought for the future, and
spend all they can in drink. Still, as
a rule, they are quiet and peaceable,
and live altogether by themselves.
They neither borrow nor steal. They
are truthful. honest, teaehable and
harmless. They are handwriting, the
women doing quite as much work as
the men, and they are much more
thrifty and more sober than either the
Varlis or Katkaris. Some Of their vii
lagos are very orderly and clean, the
people showing much respect to the
head man, who belongs to their own
caste. Thakur means ga chief" and
in days very remote they probably had
% position of some standing.
The Katkaris, or makers of kat--that
is, catechu-are the poorest and least
hopeful of the three tribes, drunken.
given to thieving, and unwilling to
work In 1925. according to Bishop
Heber, they were cilarcoal-burners, and
so wild and scared that they would
have no direct dealings with the peo-
pie Of the plain. They brought head
loads of charcoal to particular spots,
whence it was carried away by the vii
layers, who left in its place Gus
tomary payment of rice, clothing and
iron tools. Eleven years later Major
Macintosh described them as great
thieves, stealing corn from the fields
and farm-yards, committing robberies
in the villages at night, and plumber.
ing lonely travellers during the day.
| Their women worked hard, acting as
laborers, and bringing into market the
head-loads of wood their husbands had
gathered in the forests. They are
very poor, generally in rags, and often
without any wholesome food. As soon
as they get together a few pence they
spend il in drink and tobacco. A small
body of them, however, will not eat
COWS meat, and are allowed to draw
water at the village wells and to enter
| kumbi houses.
The third tribe, the Varlis, are con
siderably better of. They are un-
shaven and slightly clothed and live 10
| small bamboo and bramble huts. They
are very innocent and harmless, bal
immoderately fond of liquor. They
commit crimes Of violence only when
they are drunk, and they join in thefts
and gang robberies only when they are
starving Among themselves they are
extremely fond Of fun and very social.
With strangers they are timid at first,
bat with Europeans whom they know
| they are frank and very truthful.
Nothing win induce them to leave the
forests. They are passionately fond oi
sport and will take their guns into
the forest and stay there for days 70
gether. shooting sambhur, bhenkri,
peacocks and jungle and spur fowl:
over the forest pools and springs
These types OF savage life are to be
found within an hour or even half AZ
hour Of Bombay.